 Chapter 10 of Nero by Jacob Abbott. This liprivox recording is in the public domain, recording by Dion Giants, Salt Lake City, Utah. Piso's Conspiracy, A.D. 65. Although the people of Rome were generally so overawed by the terror of Nero's power that for a long period no one dared to make any open resistance to his will, still his excesses and cruelties excited in the minds of men a great many secret feelings of resentment and detestation. At one period in the course of his reign a very desperate conspiracy was formed by some of the leading men of the state to dethrone and destroy the tyrant. This plot was a very extensive and a very formidable one. It was, however, accidentally discovered before it was fully mature and thus was unsuccessful. It is known in history as Piso's conspiracy deriving its name from that of the principal leader of it, Caeus Calpurnius Piso. It is not supposed, however, that Piso was absolutely the originator of the conspiracy, nor is it known, in fact, who the originator of it was. A great number of prominent men were involved in the plot. Men who possessing very different characters and occupying very different stations in life were probably induced by the various motives to take part in the conspiracy. A conspiracy, however, of this kind against so merciless a tyrant as Nero is an enterprise of such frightful danger and is attended, if unsuccessful, with such awful consequences to all concerned in it, that men will seldom engage in such a scheme until goaded to desperation and almost maddened by the wrongs which they have endured. And yet the exasperation which these conspirators felt against Nero seems to have been produced, in some instances at least, by what we should now consider rather inadequate causes. For example, one of the men most active in this secret league was the celebrated Latin poet Lucan. In the early part of his life, Lucan had been one of Nero's principal flatterers, having written hymns and sonnets in his praise. At length, as it was said, some public occasion occurred in which verses were to be resided in public for a prize. Nero, who imagined himself to excel in every human art or attainment, offered some of his own verses in the competition. The prize, however, was adjudged to Lucan. Nero's mind was accordingly filled with envy and hate towards his rival, and he soon found some pretext for forbidding Lucan ever to recite any verses in public again. This, of course, exasperated Lucan in his turn, and was the cause of his joining in the conspiracy. Another of the conspirators was a certain Roman nobleman whose family name has since become very widely known in all parts of the civilized world, through an estate in the city with which it was associated, which estate and certain buildings erected upon it, became subsequently greatly celebrated in the ecclesiastical history of Rome. The name of this nobleman was Plotius Laeturnus. When Laeturnus was put to death at the detection of the conspiracy in the manner to be presently described, his estate was confiscated. The palace and grounds thus became the property of the Roman emperors. In process of time the emperor Constantine gave the place to the pope, and from that period it continued to be the residence of the successive Pontiffs for a thousand years. A church was built upon the ground called the Basilica of St. John of Latterin, where many ancient councils were held, known in ecclesiastical history as the councils of the Latterin. This church is still used for some of the ceremonies connected with the inauguration of the pope, but the palace is now uninhabited. It presents, however, in its ruins, a vast and imposing, though desolate aspect. Laeturnus was an unprincipled and dissolute man, and in consequence of certain crimes which he committed in connection with Messalina during the reign of Claudius he had been condemned to death. The sentence of death was not executed, though Laeturnus was deprived of his rank and doomed to live in retirement and disgrace. At the death of Claudius and the accession of Nero, Laeturnus was fully pardoned and restored to his former rank and position through Nero's instrumentality. It might have been supposed that gratitude for these favors would have prevented Laeturnus from joining such a conspiracy as this against his benefactor, but gratitude has very little place in the hearts of those who dwell in the courts and palaces of such tyrants as Nero. The man on whom the conspirators relied most for efficient military aid so far as such aid should be needed in their enterprise was a certain Fenius Rufus, a captain of the Imperial Guards. He was a man of very resolute and decided character and was very highly esteemed by the people of Rome. He was not one of the originators of the plot, but joined it at a later period, and when the news of his accession to it was communicated to the rest, it gave them great encouragement as they attached great importance to the adhesion of such a man to their cause. They now immediately began to take measures for executing their plans. There was a woman in the secret of this conspiracy, though how she obtained a knowledge of it no one seemed to know. Her name was Epicares. While the execution of the plans of the Confederates was delayed, Epicares came to the principal conspirators privately, first to one and then to another, and urged them to action. None of the members of the plot would admit that they had given her any information on the subject and how she obtained her information no one could tell. She was a woman of bad character, and as such women often are, she was violent and implacable in her hatred. She hated Nero and was so impatient at the delay of the conspirators that she made repeated and earnest efforts to urge them on. The conspirators in the meantime held various secret meetings to mature their plans and to complete the preparation for the execution of them. They designed to destroy Nero by some violent means and then to cause Piso to be proclaimed emperor in his place. Piso was a man well suited for their purpose in this respect. He was tall and graceful in form, and his personal appearance was in every respect prepossessing. His rank was very high, and he was held in great estimation by all the people of the city for the many generous and noble qualities that he possessed. He was allied too to the most illustrious families of Rome, and he occupied in all respects so conspicuous a position, and was so much an object of popular favor that the conspirators believed that his elevation to the empire could easily be affected if Nero himself could once be put out of the way. To affect the assassination of Nero, therefore, was the first step. After much debate and many consultations in respect to the best course to be pursued, it was decided to accept the offer of a certain subrious Flavius who undertook to kill the emperor in the streets at night, at some time, when he was roaming about in his carousels. Flavius, in fact, was very daring and resolute in his proposals, though wanting as it proved in the end in the fulfillment of them. He offered to stab Nero in the theater when he was singing on the stage in the midst of all the thousands of spectators convened there. This the conspirators thought it seems an unnecessarily bold and desperate mode of accomplishing the end in view, and the plan was accordingly overruled. Flavius then proposed to set the palace on fire some night when Nero was out in the city and then in the confusion that would ensue, and while the attention of the guards who had accompanied Nero should be drawn toward the fire to assassinate the emperor in the streets, this plan was exceeded to by the conspirators, and it was left to Flavius to select a favorable time for the execution of it. Time passed on, however, and nothing was done. The favorable time, which Flavius looked for, did not appear. In the meanwhile, Epikaris became more and more impatient of the delay. She urged the conspirators to do their work and chided in the strongest terms their irresolution and pusillanimity. At length finding that her invectives and reproaches were of no avail, she determined to leave them and to see what she could do herself toward the attainment of the end. She accordingly left Rome and proceeded southwardly along the coast till she came to Missenum, which as has already been said was the great naval station of the empire at this time. Epikaris went to some of the officers of the fleet, many of whom she knew, and in a very secret and cautious manner made known to them the nature of the plot which had been formed at Rome for the destruction of Nero and the elevation of Piso to the empire in his stead. Before, however, communicating intelligence of the conspiracy to any persons whatever, Epikaris would converse with them secretly and confidentially to learn how they were affected toward Nero and his government. If she found them well disposed, she said nothing. If on the other hand anyone appeared discontented with the government or hostile to it in any way, she would cautiously make known to him the plans which were concocting at Rome for the overthrow of it. She took care, however, in these conversations to have never more than one person present with her at a time and she revealed none of the names of the conspirators. Among the other officers of the fleet was a certain Proculus who was one of the first with whom Epikaris communicated. Proculus was one of the men who had been employed by Nero in his attempts to assassinate Agrippina, his mother, and for his services on that occasion had been promoted to the command of a certain number of ships, a number containing in all one thousand men. This promotion, however, as Epikaris found when she came to converse with him, Proculus did not consider as great a reward as his services had deserved. The perpetration of so horrible a crime as the murder of the Emperor's mother merited, in his opinion, as he said to Epikaris, a much higher recompense than the command of a thousand men. Epikaris thought so too. She talked with Proculus about his wrongs and the injuries which he suffered from Nero's ingratitude and neglect until she fancied that he was in a state of mind which would prepare him to join in the plans of the conspirators. And then she cautiously unfolded them to him. Proculus listened with great apparent interest to Epikaris's communication and pretended to enter very cordially into the plan of the conspiracy. But as soon as the interview was ended, he immediately left Missinum and proceeded immediately to Rome, where he divulged the whole design to Nero. Nero was exceedingly alarmed and sent officers off at once to seize Epikaris and bring her before him. Epikaris, when questioned and confronted with Proculus, resolutely denied that she had ever held any such conversation with Proculus as he alleged and feigned the utmost astonishment at what she termed the impudence of his accusation. She called for witnesses and proofs. Proculus, of course, could produce none, for Epikaris had taken care that there should be no third person present at their interviews. Proculus could not even give the names of any of the conspirators at Rome. He could only persist in his declaration that Epikaris had really disclosed to him the existence of the conspiracy and had proposed to him to join in it, while she, on the contrary, as strenuously and positively denied it, Nero was perplexed. He found it impossible to determine what to believe. He finally dismissed Proculus and sent Epikaris to prison, intending that she should remain there until he could make a more full examination into the case and determine what to do. In the meantime, the conspirators became considerably alarmed when they heard of the arrest of Epikaris, and though they knew that thus far she had revealed nothing, they could not tell how soon her fidelity and firmness might yield under the tortures to which she was every day liable to be subjected. And as there appeared to be now no prospect that Flavius would ever undertake to execute his plan, they began to devise some other means of attaining the end. It seems that Piso possessed at this time a villa and a country seat at Baye on the coast south of Rome and near to Mycenaeum, and that Nero was accustomed sometimes to visit Piso here. It was now proposed by some of the conspirators that Piso should invite Nero to visit him at this villa as if to witness some spectacles or shows which should be arranged for his entertainment there, and that then persons employed for the purpose should suddenly assassinate him when off his guard in the midst of some scene of convivial pleasure. Piso, however, objected to this plan. He conceived, he said, that it would be dishonorable in him to commit an act of violence upon a guest whom he had invited under his roof as his friend. He was willing to take his full share of the responsibility of destroying the tyrant in any fair and manly way, but he would not violate the sacred rights of hospitality to accomplish the end. So this plan was abandoned. It was supposed, however, that Piso had another and a deeper reason for his unwillingness that Nero should be assassinated at Baye than his regard for his honor as a host. He thought it was said that it would not be safe for him to be away from Rome when the death of Nero should be proclaimed in the capital lest some other Roman nobleman or great officer of state should suddenly arise in the emergency and assume the empire. There were, in fact, one or two men in Rome of great power and influence of whom Piso was specially jealous, and he was naturally very much disposed to be on his guard against opening any door of opportunity for them to rise to power, to commit a great crime in order to secure his own aggrandizement, and yet to manage the commission of it in such a way as not only to shut himself off from the expected benefit, but to secure that benefit to a hated rival would have been a very fatal misstep. So the plan of destroying Nero at Baye was overruled. At length, one more, and as it proved, a final scheme was formed for accomplishing the purpose of the conspiracy. It was determined to execute Nero in Rome at a great public celebration, which was then about to take place. It seems that it was sometimes customary in ancient times for persons who had any request or petition to make to an emperor or king to avail themselves of the occasion of such celebrations to present them. Accordingly, it was determined that Latterness would approach Nero at a certain time during the celebration of the games as if to offer a petition, the other conspirators being close at hand and ready to act at a moment's warning. Latterness, as soon as he was near enough, was to kneel down and suddenly draw the emperor's robes about his feet, and then clasp the feet thus enveloped in his arms so as to render Nero helpless. The other conspirators were then to rush forward and kill their victim with their daggers. In the meantime, while Latterness and his associates were perpetrating this deed in the circus where the games were to be exhibited, Piso was to station himself in a certain temple not far distant to await the result. While Phineas, the officer of the guard who has already been mentioned as the chief military reliance of the conspirators, was to be posted in another part of the city with a military calvocade in array ready to proceed through the streets and thus bring Piso forth to be proclaimed emperor as soon as he should receive the tidings that Nero had been slain. It is said that in order to give additional a claw and popularity to the proceeding, it was arranged that Octavia, a daughter of Claudius, the former emperor, was to be brought forward with Piso in the calvocade as if to combine the influence of her hereditary claims, whatever they might be, with the personal popularity of Piso in favor of the new government about to be established. Thus everything was arranged to each conspirator. His own particular duty was assigned and as the day approached for the execution of the scheme, everything seemed to promise success. It is obvious, however, that as the affair had been arranged, all would depend upon the resolution and fidelity of those who had been designated to stab the emperor with their daggers when laterness should have grasped his feet. The slightest faltering or fear at this point would be fatal to the whole scheme. The man on whom the conspirators chiefly relied for this part of their work was a certain desperate profligate named Severus who had been one of the earliest originators of the conspiracy and one of the most dauntless and determined of the promoters of it so far as words and professions could go. He particularly desired that the privilege of plunging the first dagger into Nero's heart should be granted to him. He had a knife, he said, which he had found in a certain temple a long time before and which he had preserved and carried about his person constantly ever since for some such deed. So it was arranged that Severus should strike the fatal blow. As the time drew nigh, Severus seemed to grow more and more excited with the thoughts of what was before him. He attracted the attention of the domestics at his house by his strange and mysterious demeanor. He held a long and secret consultation with Natalus, another conspirator on the day before the one appointed for the execution of the plot under such circumstances as to increase still more the wonder and curiosity of his servants. He formally executed his will as if he were approaching some dangerous crisis. He made presence to his servants and actually emancipated one or two of his favorite slaves. He talked with all he met in a rapid and incoherent manner on various subjects and with an air of gaiety and cheerfulness which it was obvious to those who observed him was all assumed. For in the intervals of these conversations and at every pause he relapsed into a thoughtful and absent mood as if he were meditating some deep and dangerous design. That night too he took out his knife from its sheath and gave it to one of his servants named Milicus to be ground. He directed Milicus to be particularly attentive to the sharpening of the point. Before Milicus brought back the knife, Severnus directed him to prepare bandages such as would be suitable for binding up wounds to stop the effusion of blood. Milicus observed all these directions and having made all the preparations required according to the orders which Severnus had given him keeping the knife, however, still in his possession. He went to report the whole case to his wife in order to consult with her in respect to the meaning of all these mysterious indications. The wife of Milicus soon came to the conclusion that these strange proceedings could denote nothing less than a plot against the life of the emperor and she urged her husband to go early the next morning and make known his discovery. She told him that it was impossible that such a conspiracy should succeed for it must be known to a great many persons some one of whom would be sure to divulge it in hope of a reward. If you divulge it she added you will secure the reward for yourself and if you do not you will be supposed to be privy to it when it is made known by others and so will be sacrificed with the rest to Nero's anger. Milicus was convinced by his wife's reasonings and on the following morning as soon as the day dawned he rose and repaired to the palace. At first he was refused admittance but on sending word to the officer of the household that he had intelligence of the most urgent importance to communicate to Nero they allowed him to come in. When brought into Nero's presence he told his story describing particularly all the circumstances that he had observed which had led him to suppose that a conspiracy was formed. He spoke of the long and mysterious consultation which Sevanus and Natalus had held together on the preceding day. He described the singular conduct and demeanor which Sevanus had subsequently manifested the execution of his will his wild and incoherent conversation his directions in respect to the sharpening of the knife and the preparation of the bandages and to crown his proofs he produced the knife itself which he had kept for this purpose and which then furnished in some sense an ocular demonstration of the truth of what he had declared. Officers were immediately sent to seize Sevanus and to bring him into the presence of the emperor. Sevanus knew of course that the only possible hope for him was in a bold and resolute denial of the charge made against him. He accordingly denied in the most solemn manner that there was any plot or conspiracy whatever and he attempted to explain all the circumstances which had awakened his servant suspicions. The knife or dagger which Milicus had produced was an ancient family relic he said one of which he had kept for a long time in his chamber and which his servant had obtained surreptitiously for the purpose of sustaining his faults and malicious charge against his master as to his will he often made and signed a will anew he said as many other persons were accustomed to do and no just inference against him could be drawn from the circumstance that he had done this on the preceding day and in respect to the bandages and other preparation for the dressing of wounds which Milicus alleged that he had ordered he denied the statement altogether he had not given any such orders the whole story was the fabrication of a vile slave attempting by these infamous means to compass his master's destruction. Sevanus said all this with so bold and intrepid a tone of voice and with such an error of injured innocence that Nero and his friends were half disposed to believe that he was unjustly accused and to dismiss him from custody this might very probably have been the result and Milicus himself might have been punished for making a false and malicious accusation had not the suggestivity of his wife who was all the time watching these proceedings with the most anxious interest furnished a clue which in the end brought the whole truth to light she called attention to the long conference which Sevanus had held with Natalus on the preceding day Sevanus was accordingly questioned concerning it he declared that his interview was nothing but an innocent consultation about his own private affairs he was questioned then about the particulars of the conversation of course he was compelled to fabricate a statement in reply Natalus himself was then sent for and examined apart from Sevanus in regard to the conversation they had held together Natalus of course fabricated a story too but as usual with such fabrications the two accounts having been invented independently were inconsistent with each other Nero was immediately convinced that the men were guilty and that some sort of plot or conspiracy had been formed he ordered that they should both be put to the torture in order to compel them to confess their crime and disclose the names of their accomplices in the meantime they were sent to prison and loaded with irons to be kept in that condition until the instruments of torture could be prepared when at length they were brought to the rack the sight of the horrid machinery unmanned them they begged to be spared and promised to reveal the whole they acknowledged that a conspiracy had been formed and gave the names of all who had participated in it they explained fully to the plans which had been devised and as in this case though they were examined separately their statements agreed Nero and his friends were convinced of the truth of their declarations and thus at last the plot was fully brought to light Nero himself was struck with consternation and terror at discovering the formidable danger to which he had been exposed end of chapter 10 chapter 11 of Nero by Jacob Abbott this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Deon Jines Salt Lake City Utah the fate of the conspirators AD 65 as soon as Nero had obtained all the information which he and his officers could draw from Suvenus and Natalus and had sent to all parts of the city to arrest those whom the forced disclosures of these witnesses accused he thought of Epicurus who it will be recollected had been sent to prison and who was still in confinement there he ordered Epicurus to be told that concealment was no longer possible that Suvenus and Natalus had divulged the plot in full and that her only hope lay in amply confessing all that she knew this announcement had no effect upon Epicurus she refused to admit that she knew anything of any conspiracy Nero then ordered that she should be put to the torture the engines were prepared and she was brought before them the sight of them produced no change she was then placed upon the wheel and her frail and delicate limbs were stretched dislocated and broken until she had endured every form of agony which such engines could produce her constancy remained unshaken to the end at length when she was so much exhausted by her sufferings that she could no longer feel the pain she was taken away to be restored by medicaments cordials and rest in order that she might recover strength to endure new tortures on the following day in the meantime panic and excitement reigned throughout the city Nero doubled his guards he garrisoned his palace he brought out bodies of armed men and stationed them on the walls of the city and in the public squares or marched them to and fro about the streets as fast as men were accused they were put to the question and as each one saw that the only hope for safety to himself was in freely denouncing others the names of supposed confederates were revealed in great numbers and as fast as these names were obtained the men were seized and imprisoned or executed the innocent and the guilty together on the very first announcement that the plot had been discovered those of the conspirators who were still at large made all haste to the house of Piso they found him prostrate in consternation and despair they urged him immediately to come forth and to put himself at the head of an armed force and fight for his life desperate as such an undertaking might be no other alternative they said was now left to him but all was of no avail the conspirators could not arouse him to action they were obliged to retire and leave him to his fate he opened the veins in his arm and bled to death while the soldiers whom Nero had sent were breaking into his house to arrest him being thus deprived of their leader the conspirators gave up all hope of effecting the revolution and thought only of the means of screening themselves from Nero's vengeance in the meantime Epikaras had so far recovered during the night that on the following morning it was determined to bring her again to the torture she was utterly helpless her limbs having been broken by the execution of the day before the officers accordingly put her into a sort of sedentary or covered litter in order that she might be carried by bearers to the place of torture she was born in this way to the spot but when the executioners opened the door of the chair to take her out they beheld a shocking spectacle their wretched victim had escaped from their power she was hanging by the neck dead she had contrived to make a noose in one end of the syncture with which she was girded and fastening the other end to some part of the chair within she had succeeded in bringing the weight of her body upon the noose around her neck and had died without disturbing her bearers as they walked along in the meantime the various parties that were accused were seized in great numbers and were brought in for trial before a sort of court martial which Nero himself with some of his principal officers held for this purpose in the gardens of the palace the number of those accused was so large that the avenues to the garden were blocked up with them and with the parties of soldiers that conducted them and multitudes were detained together at the gates in a state of course of awful suspense and agitation waiting their turns it happened singularly enough that among those whom Nero summoned to serve on the tribunal for the trial of the prisoners were two of the principal conspirators who had not yet been accused these were Subrius Flavius and Fenius Rufus whom the reader will perhaps recollect as prominent members of the plot Flavius was the man who had once undertaken to kill the emperor in the streets and while standing near him at the tribunal he made signs to the other conspirators that he was ready to stab him to the heart now if they would but say the word but Rufus restrained him anxiously signifying to him that he was by no means to attempt it Rufus in fact seems to have been as weak-minded and irresolute as Flavius was desperate and bold in fact although Rufus when summoned to attend in the garden for the trial of the conspirators did not dare to disobey he yet found it very difficult to summon resolution to face the appalling dangers of his position he took his place at last among the others and with a forced external composure which ill concealed the desperate agitation and anxiety which reigned in his soul he gave himself to the work of trying and condemning his confederates and companions for a time no one of them betrayed him but at length during the examination of Sevanus in his solicitude to appear zealous in Nero's cause he overacted his part so far as to press Sevanus too earnestly with his inquiries until at length Sevanus turned indignantly toward him saying why do you ask these questions no person in Rome knows more about this conspiracy than you and if you feel so devoted to this humane and virtuous prince of yours show your gratitude by telling him yourself the whole story Rufus was perfectly overwhelmed at this sudden charge and could not say a word he attempted to speak but he faltered and stammered and then sank down into his seat pale and trembling and covered with confusion Nero and the other members of the tribunal were convinced of his guilt he was seized and put in irons and after the same summary trial to which the rest were subjected condemned to die he begged for his life with the most earnest and piteous lamentations but Nero was relentless and he was immediately beheaded the conspirator Flavius displayed a very different temper when he came to be accused at first he denied the charge and he appealed to his whole past character and course of life as proof of his innocence those who had informed against him however soon furnished incontestable evidence of his guilt and then changing his ground he openly acknowledged his share in the conspiracy and gloried in it even in the presence of Nero himself when Nero asked him how he could so violate his oath of allegiance and fidelity as to conspire against the life of his sovereign he turned to him with looks of open and angry defiance and said it was because I hated and detested you a natural monster as you are there was a time when there was not a soldier in your service who was more devoted to you than I but that time has passed you have drawn upon yourself the detestation and abhorrence of all mankind by your cruelties and your crimes you have murdered your mother you have murdered your wife you are an incendiary and not content with perpetrating these enormous atrocities you have degraded yourself in the eyes of all Rome to the level of the lowest mount bank and buffoon so as to make yourself the object of contempt as well as abhorrence I hate and defy you Nero was of course astonished and almost confounded at hearing such words he had never listened to language like this before his astonishment was succeeded by violent rage and he ordered Flavius to be led out to immediate execution the centurion to whom the execution was committed conducted Flavius without the city to a field and then set the soldiers at work to dig the grave as was customary at military executions while he made the other necessary preparations the soldiers in their haste shaped the excavation rudely and imperfectly Flavius ridiculed their work asking them in a tone of contempt if they considered that the proper way to dig a military grave and when at length after all the preparations had been made and the fatal moment had arrived the tribune who was in command called upon him to uncover his neck and stand forth courageously to meet his fate he replied by exhorting the officer himself to be resolute and firm see he said if you can show as much nerve in striking the blow as I can in meeting it to cut down such a man under such circumstances was of course a very dreadful duty even for a roman soldier and the executioner faltered greatly in the performance of it the decapitation should have been affected by a single blow but the officer found his strength failing him when he came to strike so that a second blow was necessary to complete the severance of the head from the body the tribune was afraid that this when represented to Nero might bring him under suspicion as if it indicated some shrinking on his part from a prompt and vigorous action in putting down the conspiracy and so on his return to Nero he boasted of his performance as if it had been just as he intended I made the traitor died twice said he by taking two blows to dispatch him but perhaps the most melancholy of all the results of this most unfortunate conspiracy was the fate of Seneca Seneca it will be remembered had been Nero's instructor and guardian in former years and subsequently one of his chief ministers of state he was now almost 70 years of age and besides the veneration in which he was held on this account and the respect that was paid to the exalted position which he had occupied for so long a period he was very highly esteemed for his intellectual endowments and for his private character his numerous writings in fact had acquired for him an extensive literary fame but Nero hated him he had long wished him out of the way it was currently reported and generally believed that he had attempted to poison him however this may be he certainly desired to find some occasion of proceeding against him and such an occasion was furnished by the developments connected with this conspiracy natalis in the course of his testimony said that he supposed that Seneca was concerned in the plot for he recollected that he was once sent to him while he was confined to his house by illness with a message from Piso the message was that Piso had repeatedly called at his that is Seneca's house but had been unable to obtain admittance the answer which Seneca had returned was that the reason why he had not received visitors was that the state of his health was very infirm but that he entertained none but friendly feelings toward Piso and wished him prosperity and success Nero determined to consider this as proof that Seneca was privy to the conspiracy and that he secretly abetted it at least he determined for a first step to send an officer with a band of armed men to arrest him and to lay the crime to his charge Seneca was not in the city at this time he had been absent in Campania which was a beautiful rural region south of Rome back from Missinum he was however that very day on his return to Rome and Sylvainus the officer whom Nero sent to him met him on the way at a villa which he possessed a few miles from Rome the name of this villa was Nomentanum Seneca had stopped at the villa to spend the night and was seated at the table with Paulina his wife when Sylvainus and his troop arrived the soldiers surrounded the house so as to prevent all possibility of escape and posted sentinels at the doors Sylvainus and some of his associates then went in and entering the hall where Seneca was at supper they informed him for what purpose they were come Sylvainus repeated what Natalis had testified in respect to the messages which had passed between Seneca and Piso Seneca admitted that the statement was true but he declared that the word which he had sent to Piso was only an ordinary message of civility and friendliness it meant nothing finding that no further explanation could be obtained Sylvainus left Seneca in his villa with a strong guard posted around the house and returned to Rome to report to Nero when Nero had heard the report he asked Sylvainus whether Seneca appeared sufficiently terrified by the accusation to make it probable that he would destroy himself that night Sylvainus answered no he displayed said he no marks of fear there was no agitation no sign of regret no token of sorrow his words and looks bespoke a mind calm confident and firm go to him rejoined Nero and tell him that he must make up his mind to die Sylvainus was thunderstruck at receiving this order he could not believe it possible that Nero would really put to death a man so venerable in years and wisdom who had been to him all his life in the place of a father instead of proceeding directly to Seneca's house he went to consult with the captain of the guard who though really one of the conspirators had not yet been accused and was still at liberty though trembling with apprehension at the imminence of his danger the captain after hearing the case said that nothing was to be done but to deliver the message Sylvainus then went to Seneca's villa but not being able to endure the thought of being himself the bearer of such tidings sent in a centurion with the message Seneca received it with calm composure and immediately made preparations for terminating his life his wife Paulina insisted on sharing his fate he gathered his friends around him to give them his parting councils and bid them farewell and ordered his servants to make the necessary preparations for opening his veins then ensued one of those sad and awful scenes of mourning and death with which the page of ancient history is so often darkened forming pictures as they do too shocking to be exhibited in full detail the calm composure of Seneca was contrasted on the one hand with the bitter anguish and loud lamentations of his domestics and friends and on the other with Paulina's mute despair when the veins were opened the blood at first would not flow and various artificial means were resorted to to accelerate the extinction of life at last however Seneca ceased to breathe the domestics of the family then begged and entreated the soldiers with many tears that they might be allowed to save Paulina if it were not too late the soldiers consented so the women bound up her wounds as she lay insensible and helpless before them and thus stopping the farther effusion of blood they watched over her with assiduous care in hopes to restore her they succeeded they brought her back to life or rather to semblance of life for she never really recovered so as to be herself again during the few lonely and desolate years through which she afterward lingered there was another roman citizen of the highest rank who fell an innocent victim to the angry passions which the discovery of this plot awakened in Nero's mind it was the consul Vestanus Vestanus was a man of great loftiness of character and had never evinced that pliancy of temper and that submissiveness to the imperial will which Nero required his position to as consul which was the highest civil office in the commonwealth gave him a vast influence over the people of Rome so that Nero feared as well as hated him in fact so great was his independence of character and his intractability as it was sometimes called that the conspirators after mature deliberation had concluded not to propose to him to engage in the plot but though he was thus innocent Nero did not certainly know the fact and at any rate such an opportunity to affect the destruction of a hated rival was too good to be lost very soon therefore after the disclosure of the conspiracy had been made Nero sent a tribune at the head of 500 men to arrest the consul this large force was designated for the service partly because on account of the high rank and office of the accused Nero did not know what means of resistance the consul might be able to command and partly because his house which was situated in the most public part of the city overlooking the forum was in itself a sort of citadel of which the various officers of Festinus's household and his numerous retainers constituted a sort of garrison it happened that at the time when Nero sent his troop to make the arrest Festinus was entertaining a large party of friends at supper the festivities were suddenly interrupted and the whole company were thrown into a state of the most frightful excitement and confusion by the sudden onset of this large body of armed men who besieged the doors blocked up all the avenues of approach and surrounding and guarding the house on every side shut all the inmates in as if they were investing the castle of an enemy certain soldiers of the guard were then sent in to Festinus in the vanquitting room to inform him that the tribune wished to speak with him on important business the consul knew the character of Nero and the feelings which the tyrant entertained toward him too well and saw to clearly the advantage which the discovery of the conspiracy gave to Nero not to perceive at once that his fate was sealed and the action which he took in this frightful emergency comported well with his insubmissive and intractable character instead of obeying the summons of the tribune he repaired immediately to a private apartment summoned his physician and directed a bath to be prepared ordered the physician to open his veins lay down in the bath to promote the flowing of the blood and in a few minutes seized to breathe the announcement of the consul's death when it came to be reported to Nero of course gave him great satisfaction he continued the guards however still about the house keeping the guests imprisoned in the vanquitting room for many hours of course during all this time the minds of these guests were in a state of extreme distress and apprehension in as much as every one of them must necessarily have felt in immediate danger when the anxiety and agitation which they felt was reported to Nero he was greatly entertained by it and said that they were paying for their consular supper he kept them in this state of suspense until nearly morning and then ordered the guards to be withdrawn the number of victims who were sacrificed to Nero's resentment in consequence of this conspiracy was very large so that the streets were filled with executions and with funeral processions for many days universal grief and panic prevailed and yet no one dared to manifest the slightest indications of sorrow or of fear the people supposed that pity for the sufferers or anxiety for themselves would be interpreted as proofs that they had been concerned in the conspiracy for multitudes of those who had been put to death were condemned on pretexts and pretended proofs of the most frivolous character everyone therefore even of those whose nearest and dearest friends had been killed was compelled to assume all the appearances of extravagant joy that so wicked a plot against the life of so wise and excellent a prince had been exposed and the guilty divisors of it brought to punishment parents whose sons had been slain and wives and children who had lost their husbands and fathers were thus compelled to unite in the congratulations and expressions of joy which were everywhere addressed to the emperor processions were formed addresses were made sacrifices were offered games spectacles and illuminations without number were celebrated to testify to the general rejoicing and thus the city presented all the outward appearances of universal gladness and joy while in truth the hearts of men were everywhere overwhelmed with anxiety grief and fear when at length a sufficient number of the citizens of Rome had been destroyed Nero assembled the army and after making an address to the troops on the subject of the conspiracy and on his happy escape from the danger he divided an immense sum of money from the public treasury among the soldiers so as to give a very considerable largesse to each man he also distributed among them a vast amount of provisions from the public granaries this act and the connection between Nero and the troops which it illustrates explain what would otherwise seem an inscrutable mystery namely how it can be possible for one man to bring the immense population of such an empire as that of ancient Rome so entirely under his power that any number of the most prominent and influential of the citizens shall be seized and beheaded or thrust through the heart with swords and daggers at a word or a nod from him the explanation is the army give to the single tyrant one or two hundred thousand desperados well banded together and completely armed under a compact between them by which he says help me to control to domineer over and to plunder the industrial classes of society and i will give you a large share of the spoil and the work is very easy the governments that have existed in the world have generally been formed on this plan they have been simply vast armies authorized to collect their own pay by the systematic plunder of the millions whose peaceful industry feeds and clothes the world the remedy which mankind is now beginning to discover and apply is equally simple the millions who do the work are learning to keep the arms in their own hands and to forbid the banding together of masses of troops for the purpose of exalting pride and cruelty to a position of absolute and irresponsible power in Nero's case so great was the awe which the terrible power of the roman legions inspired that even the senate bowed humbly before it and joined in the general adulation of the hated tyrant they decreed oblations and public thanksgivings they erected new temples to express their gratitude to the gods for so signal a deliverance they instituted new games and festivities to express the general joy and erected statues and monuments in honor of those who had contributed to the discovery of the plot the knife or dagger which millicus had produced as the one by which nero was to have been slain was preserved as a sacred relic a suitable inscription was placed upon it and it was deposited with all solemnity in one of the temples of the city there to remain a memorial of the event for all future generations in a word the tyrants escape from death called forth all the outward manifestations of joy which could have been deserved by the greatest public benefactor and yet notwithstanding all this such was the estimate which public sentiment really entertained of the true character of nero that it was considered extremely doubtful at the time and has in fact been so considered ever since whether there ever was any conspiracy at all it was very extensively believed that the whole pretended discovery of the plot was an ingenious device on the part of nero to furnish him with plausible pretexts for destroying a great number of men who were personally obnoxious to him and were it not almost impossible to believe that such monstrous wickedness and tyranny as that of nero could riot so long over romans without arousing them to some desperate attempts to destroy him we might ourselves adopt this view and suppose that this celebrated plot was wholly a fabrication end of chapter 11 chapter 12 of nero by jacob abbot this is a libravox recording a libravox recordings are in the public domain recording by dion gines celic city utah the expedition into greece ad 65 as the excitement which had been produced by the discovery real or pretended of pisso's conspiracy and by the innumerable executions which were attendant upon it passed away nero returned to his usual mode of life and in fact abandoned himself to the indulgence of his brutal propensities and passions more recklessly than ever he spent his days in sloth and his nights in rioting and carousels and was rapidly becoming an object of general contempt and detestation the only ambition which seemed to animate him was to excel or rather to have the credit of excelling as a player and singer on the public stage not long after the period of the conspiracy described in the last two chapters and when the excitement connected with it had in some measure subsided the attention of the public began to be turned toward a great festival the time for which was then approaching this festival was celebrated with spectacles and games of various kinds which were called the quinquennial games from the circumstance that the period for the celebration of them recurred once in five years a principal part of the performances on these occasions consisted of contests for prizes which were offered for those who chose to compete for them some of these prizes were for those who excelled in athletic exercises and in feats of strength and dexterity while others were for singers and dancers and other performers on the public stage nero could not resist the temptation to avail himself of this grand occasion for the display of his powers and he prepared to appear among the other actors and mount to banks as a competitor for the theatrical prizes performers on the public stage were regarded in ancient days much as they are now they were applauded flattered caressed and most extravagantly paid but after all they formed a social class distinct from all others and of a very low grade just as now great public singers are rewarded sometimes with the most princely revenues not twice or three times but ten times perhaps the amount ever paid to the highest ministers of state and receiving the most flattering attentions from the highest classes of society and are followed by crowds in the public streets and enter cities escorted by grand processions while yet there is scarce a respectable citizen of the better class who would not feel himself demeaned at seeing his son or his daughter on the stage by their side in the same manner public sentiment was such in the city of Rome in nero's day that to see the chief military magistrate of the commonwealth publicly performing on the stage and entering into an eager competition with the singing men and women the low comedians the dancers the buffoons and other such characters that figured there was a very humiliating spectacle in fact when the time for the quinquennial celebration approached the government attempted to prevent the necessity of the emperor's actual appearing upon the stage by passing in the senate among other decrees relating to the celebrations certain votes awarding honorary crowns and prizes to nero by anticipation thus acknowledging him to be the first without requiring the test of actual competition but this did not satisfy nero in fact the honor of being publicly proclaimed victor was not probably the chief allurement which attracted him he wished to enjoy the excitement and the pleasure of the contest to see the vast audience assembled before him and held in charmed and enraptured attention by his performance and to listen to and enjoy the triumphant grandeur of the applause which rolled and reverberated in the great roman amphitheaters on such occasions with the sound of thunder in a word it was the vanity of personal display rather than ambition for an honorable distinction that constituted the motive which actuated him he consequently disregarded the honorary awards which the senate had decreed him and insisted on actually appearing on the stage his first performance was the reciting of a poem which he had composed the poem was received of course with unbounded applause afterward he appeared on the stage in competition with the harpers and other musical performers the populace applauded his efforts with the greatest enthusiasm while the more respectable citizens were silent or spoke to each other in secret murmurs of discontent and disapproval there were a great many rules and restrictions which the candidates in these contests were required to observe and though they were all proper enough for the class of men for whom they were intended were yet such that the emperor in subjecting himself to them placed himself in a very low and degraded position so as to become an object of ridicule and contempt for example after coming to the end of a performance on the harp he would advance to the front of the stage and there after the manner customary among the players of that day would kneel down in an imploring attitude with his hands raised as if humbly soliciting a favorable sentence from the audience as his judges and tremblingly awaited their decision this considering that the suppliant performer was the greatest potentate on earth officially responsible for the government of half the world and the audience before whom he was kneeling was mainly composed of the lowest rabble of the city seemed to every respectable roman absurd and ridiculous to the last degree nevertheless the fame of these exploits performed by nero as a public actor spread gradually throughout the empire and the subject attracted special attention in the cities of greece where games and public spectacles of every kind were celebrated with the greatest pomp and splendor several of these cities sent deputations to roam with crowns and garlands for the emperor which they had decreed to him in honor of the skill and superiority which he had displayed in the histrionic art nero was extremely gratified at having such honors conferred upon him he received the deputations which brought these tokens with great pomp and parade as if they had been ambassadors from sovereign princes or states sent to transact business of the most momentous concern he gave them audience in fact before all others and entertained them with feasts and spectacles and conferred upon them every other mark of public consideration and honor on one occasion at a feast to which he had invited such a company of ambassadors one of them asked him to favor them with a song the emperor at once complied and sang a song for the entertainment of the company at the table he was rapturously applauded and was so delighted with the enthusiasm which his performance awakened as to exclaim that the greeks were after all the only people that really had a taste for music none but they he said could understand or appreciate a good song the most renowned of all the celebrations of the ancient Greeks were the olympic games these games constituted a grand national festival which was held once in four years on a plane in the western part of the peloponnesus called the olympian plane this plane was but little more than a mile in extent and was bordered on one side by rocky hills and on the other by the waters of a river here suitable structures were erected for the exhibition of the spectacles and games and for the accommodation of the spectators and when the period for the celebrations arrived immense multitudes assembled from every part of Greece to witness the solemnities the spectators however were all men for with the exception of a few priestesses who had certain official duties to perform no females were allowed to be present the punishment for an attempt to evade this law was death for if any woman attempted to witness the scene in disguise the law was that she was to be seized if detected and hurled down a neighboring precipice to be killed by the fall it is said however that only one case of such detection ever occurred and in that case the woman was pardoned in consideration of the fact that her father her brothers and her son had all been victors in the games the games continued for five days the general arrangements were made and the umpires were appointed by the government of ellis which was the state in which the olympian plane was situated there was a gymnasium in the vicinity where those who intended to enter the lists as competitors were accustomed to put themselves in training this training occupied nearly a year and for 30 days previous to the public exhibition the exercises were conducted at this gymnasium in the same manner and form as at the games themselves there was a large and regularly organized police provided to preserve order and umpires appointed with great formality to decide the contests and make the awards these umpires were inducted into office by the most solemn oaths they bound themselves by these oaths to give just and true decisions without fear or favor the festival was opened when the time arrived in the evening by the offering of sacrifices the services being conducted in the most imposing and solemn manner on the following morning at daybreak the games and contests began these consisted of races in chariots on horseback and on foot the runners being in the latter case sometimes dressed lightly and sometimes loaded with heavy armor of matches in leaping wrestling boxing and throwing the discus and finally of musical and poetical performances of various kinds to obtain the prize in any of these contests was considered throughout the whole grecian world as an honor of the highest degree the period for the celebration of these games began to draw nigh as it happened not long after the time when the deputations from Greece came to Nero with the compliments and crowns decreed to him in token of their admiration of his public performances at Rome and it is not at all surprising that his attention and interest were strongly awakened by the approach of so renowned a festival in short he resolved to go to Greece and display his powers before the immense and distinguished audiences that were to assemble on the olympic planes he accordingly organized a very large retinue of attendance and followers and prepared to set out on his journey this retinue was in numbers quite an army but in character it was a mere troupe of actors musicians and buffoons it was made up almost wholly of people connected in various ways with the stage so that the baggage which followed in its train instead of being formed of arms and munitions of war as was usual when a great roman commander had occasion to pass out of Italy consisted of harps fiddles masks buskins and other such stage property as was in use in those times while the company itself was formed almost entirely of comedians singers dancers and wrestlers with an immense retinue of gay and dissipated men and women who exemplified every possible stage of moral debasement and degradation with this company Nero crossed to the eastern shore of Italy and there embarking on board the vessels which had been prepared for the voyage he sailed over the Adriatic Sea to the shores of Greece he landed at Cassiope a town in the northern part of the island of Coursera here there was a temple to Jupiter and the first of Nero's exploits was to go there and sing being impatient it would seem to give the people of Greece a specimen of his powers immediately on landing after this he passed over to the continent and then advanced into the heart of Greece playing singing and acting in all the cities through which he passed as there were yet some months to elapse before the period for celebrating the olympic games Nero had ample time for making this tour he was of course everywhere received with the most unbounded applause for of course those only in general who were most pleased with such amusements and were most inclined to approve of Nero's exhibiting himself as a performer came together in the assemblies which convened to hear him thus it happened that the virtuous the cultivated and the refined remained at their homes while all the idle reckless and dissolute spirits of the land flocked in crowds to the entertainments which their imperial visitor offered them these men of course considered it quite a triumph for them that so distinguished a potentate should take an active part in ministering to their pleasures and thus wherever Nero went he was sure to be attended by crowds and his performances whether skillful or not could not fail of being extravagantly extolled in conversation and of eliciting in the theater's thunders of applause the consequence was that Nero was delighted with the enthusiasm which his performances seemed everywhere to awaken to be thus received and thus applauded in the cities of Greece seemed to satisfy his highest ambition it has always been considered a very extraordinary proof of mental and moral degradation on the part of Nero that he could thus descend from the exalted sphere of responsibility and duty to which his high official station properly consigned him in order to mingle in such scenes and engage in such contests as were exhibited in the ordinary theaters and circuses in Greece it is however not so surprising that he should have been willing to appear as a competitor at the olympic games so prominent were these games above all the other athletic and military celebrations of that age and so great was the value attached to the honor of a victory obtained in them there was it is true no value in the prize itself that was bestowed upon the victors there was no silver cup or golden crown or some of money staked upon the issue the only direct award was a crown of olive leaves which at the close of the contest was placed upon the head of the victor everything pertaining to this crown was connected with the most imposing and peculiar ceremonies the leaves from which the garland was made were obtained from a certain sacred olive tree which grew in a consecrated grove in olympia the tree itself had been originally brought it was said from the country of the hyperborians by hercules and planted in olympia where it was sacredly preserved to furnish garlands for the victors in the games the leaves were cut from the tree by a boy chosen for the purpose he gathered the leaves by means of a golden sickle which was set apart expressly to this use when the time arrived for the crowning of the victor the candidate was brought forward in presence of a vast concourse of spectators and placed upon a tripod which was originally formed of bronze but in subsequent ages was wrought in ivory and gold branches of palm trees the usual symbols of victory were placed in his hands his name and that of his father and of the country once he came were proclaimed with great ceremony by the heralds the crown was then placed upon his head and the festival ended with processions and sacrifices and a public banquet given in honor of the occasion on his return to his own country the victor entered the capital by a triumphal procession and was usually rewarded there by immunities and privileges of the most important character at length the time arrived for the celebration of the olympic games and nero repaired to the spot following the vast throngs that were proceeding thither from every part of Greece and there entered into competition with all the common singers and players of the time the prize for excellence in music was awarded to him it was however generally understood that the judges were bribed to decide in his favor nero entered as a competitor too in the chariot race and here he was successful in winning the prize though in this case it was decreed to him in plain and open violation of all rule he undertook to drive ten horses in this race but he found the team too much for him to control the horses became unmanageable nero was thrown out of his carriage and was so much hurt that he could not finish the race at all he however insisted that accidents and casualties were not to be taken into the account and that in as much as he should certainly have outran his competitors if he had not been prevented by misfortune he claimed that the judges should award him the prize greatly to his delight the judges did so it is true they were bound by the most solemn oaths to make just and true decisions but it has been seldom found in the history of the world that official oaths constitute any serious barrier against the demands or encroachments of emperors or kings when the games were ended nero conferred very rich rewards upon all the judges these successes at the olympic games nominal and empty as they really were seemed to have inflamed the emperor's vanity and ambition more than ever instead of returning to rome he commenced another tour through the heart of greece singing and playing in all the cities where he went and challenging all the most distinguished actors and performers to meet him and contend with him for prizes of course the prizes were always awarded to nero on this tour as they had been at the olympic games nero sent home regular dispatches after each of his performances to inform the roman senate of his victories just as former emperors had been accustomed to send military bulletins to announce the progress of their armies and the conquests which they had gained in battle and with a degree of vanity and folly which seems almost incredible he called upon the senate to institute religious celebrations and sacrifices in rome and great public processions in order to signalize and commemorate these great successes and to express the gratitude of the people to the gods for having vouchsafed them not satisfied with expecting this parade of public rejoicing in rome he called upon the senate to ordain that similar services should be held in all the cities and towns throughout the empire during the visit of nero to greece he engaged in one undertaking which might be denominated a useful enterprise though he managed it with such characteristic imbecility and folly that it ended as might have been foreseen in a miserable failure the plan which he conceived was to cut through the itthmus of Corinth so as to open a ship communication between the Ionian and the Aegean seas such a canal he thought would save for many vessels the long and dangerous voyage around the Peloponnesus and thus prevent many of the wrecks which then annually took place on the shores of the peninsula and which were often attended with the destruction of much property and of many lives the plan might thus have been a very good one had any proper and efficient means been adopted for carrying it into execution but in all that he did in this respect nero seems to have looked no farther than to the performance of pompous and empty ceremonies in commencing the work he convened a great public assembly on the ground he entertained this assembly with spectacles and shows he then placed himself at the head of his lifeguards and after a speech of great promise and pretension he advanced at the head of a procession singing and dancing by the way to the place where the first ground was to be broken here he made three strokes with a golden pickaxe which had been provided for the occasion and putting the earth which he had loosened into a basket he carried it away to a short distance and threw it out upon the ground this ceremony was meant for the commencement of the canal and when it was over the company dispersed and nero was escorted by his guards back to the city of Corinth which lay at a few miles distance from the scene nothing more was ever done nero issued orders it is true that all the criminals convicts and prisoners in Greece should be transported to the isthmus and set to work upon this canal and some Jewish captives were actually employed there for a time but for some reason or other nothing was done the actual work was never seriously undertaken in the meantime nero had left the government at Rome in the hands of a certain ignoble favorite named helios who being placed in command of the army during his master's absence held the lives and fortunes of all the inhabitants at his supreme disposal and as might have been expected he pursued such a career of cruelty and oppression in his attempts to overaw and subject those who were under his power that a universal feeling of hostility and hatred was awakened against him things at last assumed so alarming an attitude that helios was terrified in his turn and at length he began to send for nero to come home nero at first paid no attention to these requests the danger however increased the crisis became extremely imminent so that a general insurrection was anticipated helios sent messengers after messengers to nero imploring him to return if he wished to save himself from ruin but all the answer that he could obtain from nero was that if helios truly loved him he would not envy him the glory that he was acquiring in greece but instead of hastening his return would rather wish that he should come back worthy of himself after having fully accomplished his victories at last helios growing desperate in view of the impending danger left rome and traveling with all possible dispatch night and day came to nero in greece and there made such statements and disclosures in respect to the condition of things at rome that nero at length reluctantly concluded to return he accordingly set out in grand state on his journey westward escorted by his bodyguard and with his motley and innumerable horde of singers dancers poets actors and monta banks in his train he brought with him the prizes which he had won in the various cities of greece the number of these prizes it was said was more than 1800 on his way through greece when about to return to rome he went to delphi to consult the sacred oracle there in respect to his future fortunes the reply of the python us was beware of 73 this answer gave nero great satisfaction and pleasure it meant he had no doubt that he had no danger to fear until he should have attained to the age of 73 and as he was yet not quite 30 the response of the oracle seemed to put so far away the evil day that he thought he might dismiss it from his mind altogether so he repaid the oracle for the flattering prediction with most magnificent presence and pursued his journey toward rome with a mind quite at ease the ships in which he embarked to cross the adriatic on his return to italy encountered a terrible storm by which they were dispersed and many of them were destroyed nero himself had a very narrow escape as the ship which he was in came very near being lost to see him in this danger seems greatly to have pleased some of his attendance for so imperious and cruel was his temper that he was generally hated by all who came under his power these men hated him so intensely that they were willing as it would appear to perish themselves for the pleasure of witnessing his destruction and in the extreme moments of danger they openly manifested this feeling the vessel however was saved and nero as soon as he landed ordered these persons all to be slain on landing he gathered together the scattered remnants of his company and organizing a new escort he advanced toward rome in a grand triumphal march displaying his prizes and crowns in all the great cities through which he passed and claiming universal homage when he arrived at the gates of rome he made preparations for a grand triumphal entry to the city in the manner of great military conquerors a breach was made in the walls for the admission of the procession nero rode in the triumphal chariot of augustus with a distinguished greek harpist by his side who wore an olympic crown upon his head and carried another crown in his hand before this chariot marched a company of 1800 men each of them carrying one of the crowns which nero had won with an inscription for the spectators to read signifying where the crown had been won the name of the emperor's competitor the title of the song which he had sung and other similar particulars in this way he traversed the principal streets exhibiting himself and his trophies to the populace and finally when he arrived at his house he entered it with great pomp and parade and caused the crowns to be hung up upon the innumerable statues of himself which had been erected in the courts and halls of the building those which he valued most highly he placed conspicuously around his bed in his bedchamber in order that they might be the last objects for his eyes to rest upon at night and the first to grate his view in the morning as soon as he became established in rome again he began to form new plans for developing his powers and capacities as a musician in the hope of gaining still higher triumphs than those to which he had already attained far from giving his time and attention to the public business of the empire he devoted himself with new zeal and enthusiasm to the cultivation of his art in doing this it was necessary according to the customs and usages in respect to the training of musicians that prevailed in those days that he should submit to rules and exercises most absurd and degrading to one holding such a station as his and as accounts of his mode of life circulated among the community he became an object of general ridicule and contempt in order to strengthen his lungs and improve his voice he used to lie on his back with a plate of lead upon his chest that the lungs working under such a burden might acquire strength by the effort he took powerful medicines such as were supposed in those days to act upon the system in such a manner as to produce clearness and resonance in the tones of the voice he subjected himself to the most rigid rules of diet and gave up the practice of addressing the senate and the army which the roman emperors often had occasion to do for fear that speaking so loud might strain his voice and injure the sweetness of its tones he had a special officer in his household called his phonascus meaning his voice keeper this officer was to watch him at all times caution him against speaking too loud or too fast prescribe for him and in every way take care that his voice received no detriment during all this time nero was continually performing in public and though his performances were protracted and tedious to the last degree all the roman nobility were compelled always to attend them under pain of his horrible displeasure as nero went on thus in the career which he had chosen neglecting altogether the affairs of government and giving himself up more and more every year to the most expensive dissipation his finances became at length greatly involved and he was compelled to resort to every possible form of extortion in order to raise the money that he required his pecuniary embarrassments became at length very perplexing and they were finally very much increased by the extraordinary folly which he displayed in giving credence to the dreams and promises of a certain adventurer who came to him from africa the name of this man was besos he was a native of carthage he came at one time to roam and having contrived by means of presence and bribes which he offered to the officers of nero's household to obtain an audience of the emperor he informed him that he had intelligence of the highest importance to communicate which was that on his estate in africa there was a large cavern in which was stored an immense treasure this treasure consisted he said of vast heaps of golden ingots rude and shapeless in form but composed of pure and precious metal the cavern he said which contained these stores was very spacious and the gold lay piled in it in heaps and sometimes in solid columns towering to a prodigious height these treasures had been deposited there he said by dito the ancient carthaginian queen and they had remained there so long that all knowledge of them had been lost they had been reserved in a word for nero and were all now at his disposal ready to be brought out and employed in promoting the glory and magnificence of his reign nero readily gave credit to this story and in as much as in the exuberance of his exultation he made known this wonderful discovery to those around him the tidings of it soon spread throughout the city and produced the most intense excitement among all classes nero immediately began to fit out an expedition to proceed to africa and bring the treasure home galleys were equipped to convey it and a body of troops was designated to escort it and suitable officers appointed to proceed with besess to carthage and superintend the transportation of the metal these preparations necessarily required some time and during the interval besess was of course the object at roam of universal attention and regard nero himself finding that he was about to enter upon the possession of such inexhaustible treasures dismissed all concern in respect to his finances and launched out into wilder extravagance than ever he raised money for the present moment by assigning shares in the treasure at exorbitant rates of discount and thus borrowed and expended with the most unbounded profusion at length the expedition sailed for carthage taking besess with them but all search for the cavern when they arrived was unavailing it proved that all the evidence which besess had of the existence of the cave and of the heaps of gold contained in it was derived from certain remarkable dreams which he had had and though nero's commissioners dug into the ground most faithfully in every place on the estate which the dreams had indicated no treasure and not even the cavern could ever be found end of chapter 12